Last week, thousands of Taylor Swift fans were booted from online queues while trying to purchase pre-sale concert tickets from Ticketmaster when the site crashed due to overwhelming capacity issues. Making matters worse, the national ticket seller opted to cancel plans to open ticket sales to the public later in the week.
Don't Let Capacity Issues Lead to 'Bad Blood' with Customers
Fans were furious, taking to social media to complain about the lack of capacity planning from the ticket seller. Much like the issues these fans faced, Shippers and 3PLs are staring down another challenging year for shipping capacity as rates drop below costs in the trucking industry.
According to the FreightWaves National Truckload Index, spot rates are down 23% year over year. Meanwhile, costs are rising for carriers. Compared to 2021, diesel was 44% higher in the month of October, according to the Department of Energy. The cost of parts and truck maintenance are also up from 2021, according to a July report from Truckstop.com.
Some experts predict that rates may drive smaller carriers out of the industry in what they call, “The Great Purge”, resulting in fewer trucks on the road to deliver freight.
What should Shippers and 3PLs do to mitigate capacity issues in over-the-road (OTR) shipping? Plan now with a digital solution that offers access to a large pool of vetted carriers that can fit their needs in any shipping environment and offer dynamic, real-time rating options for all modes.
Dynamic, real-time rating and scheduling of OTR shipments can save valuable time and money through the automated responses and actions that technology, specifically API integrations, can execute. By syncing freight solutions with technology, Shippers and 3PLs can make data-backed decisions, settle disputes, automate auditing, and improve cash flow through a single source of truth that is accurate and transparent.
Knowing what capacity is available and retrieving competitive carrier rates in real-time is a game changer in keeping shipping costs down when capacity tightens. The adoption of a technology platform can help you identify capacity and choose a carrier that will move your shipment on your schedule and within your budget.
Shippers and 3PLs may also want to consider consolidating loads, which is easier to do with a single platform for managing all modes, specifically for moving freight between modes properly and avoiding losses. Consolidating shipments helps to reduce freight spend by splitting the cost of the load either with other shipments or with freight from another shipper. There also are fewer transfers and touchpoints when using load consolidation, allowing the shipments to reach their destinations faster while minimizing the opportunity for damage or losses.
Even more critical is partnering with a provider that offers shipment rating and execution for all OTR shipping modes from a single screen, including LTL, Truckload, Local Carrier and Parcel. This will save significant time comparing modes and booking loads with more options to control freight costs. Having more carrier options for multiple shipping modes through your freight management technology provider will help “shake off” capacity challenges.
Did you Know
Banyan’s Business Intelligence Tools and comprehensive Visibility Suite use the carrier and freight bill data captured in our LIVE Connect™ platform to help Shippers, 3PLs and Partners identify and respond to carrier capacity issues. This suite of dashboards gives you the enhanced visibility into all OTR shipments.
Access to carrier data helps identify those who perform well and can manage freight during disruptions. This automated dashboard helps eliminate hours spent manually pulling reports from different Carriers and solutions, allowing you to react quickly in the aftermath of major storms and disruptions. It also identifies key Carrier performance metrics, such as late and on-time pick-ups and deliveries, so you know which carriers to rely on when things get challenging in the supply chain.
You also can analyze key cost metrics like average cost per Carrier, spend summary – average fuel, average weight, average variance – which is data that will help you manage your freight spend as fuel and other shipping costs often rise when capacity is tight.
With access to 3x more Carriers than any other provider, including more than 10,000 Local Carrier assets and drivers in the U.S. and Canada, clients can easily utilize solutions for LTL, Truckload, Local Carrier and Parcel within LIVE Connect to rate, schedule, and track shipments in real-time.
Contact Banyan Technology today to learn how our LIVE Connect platform can help you mitigate capacity issues for all OTR shipping modes.
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